research-driven asset management

TOBAM’s research effort is led by Tristan Froidure, who has over 25 years of investment experience on researching and developing quantitative investment and trading strategies. 

The Maximum Diversification® approach and Anti-Benchmark® strategy were developed and refined in-house, and are maintained by the Research team.  Today, roughly half of TOBAM’s staff is involved in research and works on a day-to-day basis to increase the theoretical foundation for the Anti-Benchmark® investment approach, developing further its implementation in many different versions and variations that have been added to our set of strategies over the last years. TOBAM’s team has also conducted research on authoritarian risk exposure in portfolios, leading to four main conclusions:
  1. There is a autocracy risk driver,
  2. The autocracy risk driver is negatively rewarded over time,
  3. Most of a portfolio’s exposure to the autocracy risk driver is contributed by its indirect exposure to it,
  4. The autocracy driver is independent from other risk drivers.

This research created a strong rationale for investors to address the investment risk linked to authoritarian regimes.

TOBAM also launched a separate activity on cryptocurrencies: our research journey in digital assets started in 2016 and our uninterrupted research effort in this field led to several initiatives that helped our company gain an important competitive advantage while applying robust risk management standards in the crypto ecosystem.

Research is organized around three areas (theoretical support, implementation innovation and product research). The three main pillars of our research activities are:

The three main pillars of our research activities are:

01.

Theoretical Support

  • Discover, explore and obtain a full understanding of potential new sources of risk premium
  • Although research may be technical and mathematical in nature, we strive to produce results that make common financial and economic sense, and can be intuitively explained to our investors and partners.
  • Share our knowledge with a selected audience, through our ties with leading academic institutions, leading long-term investors as well as renowned academic journals.

02.

Implementation Innovation

Develop and refine applications for the Anti-Benchmark® investment approach and our crypto currency portfolios.

03.

Product research & Development

Pursue innovation and new product development

We consider that applying our expertise and research capabilities to our clients and prospects challenges is a crucial step in building a solid and grounded research team. On top of our three main research pillars, we hence spend a significant amount of our research efforts finding customized answers to challenging issues raised by our clients.

All researchers are required to report on an on-going basis on their progress and time spent on their assigned research projects. The research department makes recommendations to the Executive Committee on potential improvements in the implementation of investment strategies.

Toward maximum diversification

by Yves Choueifaty et Al. 

Journal of Portfolio Management,

Fall 2008

Properties of the most diversified portfolio

by Yves Choueifaty, Tristan Froidure et Al.

The Journal of Investment Strategies, Spring 2013

Portfolio rho-presentativity

by Tristan Froidure, Yves Choueifaty et Al.

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance,

vol. 22, 2019

Thanks to its efficient structure and research expertise, TOBAM can also provide external clients with portfolio management “Solutions” services (portfolio outsourcing, white labelling solutions/co-branded funds etc.).